Scholarships and fellowships

Directors' Scholarship Fund

• 2010 Scholarship Application Form (2003 Word format)
• 2010 Scholarship Application Form (pdf format)

Persons seeking RBS scholarships submit applications each fall without reference to any particular RBS course that they wish to take, and scholarships are awarded without reference to admission to any particular course. Those awarded scholarships will have credit, good for two years, that they can then use to pay for any course to which they are thereafter admitted. Participation in the scholarship program implies acceptance of the scholarship Terms and Conditions.

In making its awards, the RBS Scholarship Committee will give special consideration to applicants toward the beginning of their professional careers, or who represent under-served communities (or whose institutions do so). The Committee is especially interested in supporting first-time attendees. For more details about the scholarship program, see the Frequently Asked Questions page.

The current Scholarship Committee comprises:

Libby Chenault (West European Librarian, University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill); Gerald Cloud, chair, (Curator of Literature, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries); Ian Desai (Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer, South Asian Studies and History, Yale University); Andrew Gaub (Associate, Bruce McKittrick Rare Books); Amanda Nelsen (Program Director, RBS); and Jessica Pigza (Librarian, Rare Book Division, New York Public Library).

Scholarship History

RBS began offering scholarships in 2001 with resources provided by the school's James Davis Scholarship Fund; see below for more about the late James Davis, who was UCLA's Rare Books Librarian and a long-time RBS staff member. In June 2005, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency, made a substantial grant to RBS to underwrite about 150 full-tuition scholarships, to be given out approximately 50 per year for each the following three years. In 2009, RBS established the Directors' Scholarship Fund in honor of founding director Terry Belanger.

The RBS scholarship fund has received support from William Reese Company, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Book Club of California, Atlas Systems, the Council on Library and Information Resources, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and annual support from the Friends of Rare Book School.

Fellowships

Rare Book School's fellowship program began with the E. Ph. Goldschmidt Fellowship, followed in 1999 by the Reese Company and San Garde Fellowships, and in 2001 by the Ian Willison Fellowship.

To read more about the RBS Fellowship Program, visit the Fellowships section of our website.